


When Dreams Become Reality

by lokobookworm95



Category: Kim Possible (Cartoon)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Hope this at least slightly freaks you out, I am a HORRIBLE PERSON, Spoilers for the episode: Bad Boy, Spoilers for the episode: Stop Team Go, You'll hate me after this
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-01-17
Updated: 2013-02-13
Packaged: 2017-11-25 19:21:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 21,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/642183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lokobookworm95/pseuds/lokobookworm95
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Murder. Resurrection. Abduction. Surrender. Insanity. Five ways the future was never supposed to happen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. How to Fall in Five Easy Steps

 

**When Dreams Become Reality**

_How To Fall In Five Easy Steps_

The rain falls on three figures: a boy, standing proudly upright, a girl, lying on the ground in a puddle of red, and a small rodent lying curled up next to the girl. The boy smirks to himself before looking down at the girl; she is staring back at him with pleading eyes, her hands pressing desperately against the gaping wound in her stomach. She pants harshly for air for several moments before speaking.

"W-Why… why did you do this, R-Ron? I-I loved you!"

Ron kneels down next to her, ignoring the blood he's getting on his knees. He smiles at her tenderly, and reaches out to smooth some hair away from her forehead. Then he rests his hand on hers. He ignores both her pained whimper as he presses down, and the dying squeak from a few feet away.

"The answer is simple, Kim." He leans down and puts his lips next to her ear. His next statement is so soft that it can barely be called a whisper.  _"Because the dreams wouldn't go away."_

He leans back and smiles at her, patting her hands one last time before standing up, ignoring the blood dripping down his legs. He lifts his face up to the rain, closing his eyes and reveling in the sensation for a bit. Then he opens his eyes and walks away, leaving his girlfriend and his best friend on the ground, dying in the rain.

* * *

Until Ron got hit with the Attitudinator a second time, he had been managing the dreams very well. He had almost gotten them completely out of his head. Before the Attitudinator hit him the second time, he had managed three days without coming up with a plot. After the Attitudinator, though? He was lucky if he could manage five minutes. The dreams had gotten worse, as well.

It had gotten so bad that Ron had actively started avoiding sleep. When his parents asked him what was going on, he told them that it was just nightmares, and they moved on. That wasn't exactly the truth, however. The dreams weren't nightmares,  _per se_ , at least not until he woke up. Most of his dreams were of taking over the world, ruling it until he died or was killed. The  _really_  bad ones, though?

The really bad ones were about  _how_  he got to the top; he usually did it by killing or capturing everyone he cared about. The worst part, though, was how he reacted. While he was still half-asleep, he was happy and satisfied by how it had turned out. He didn't become horrified until he woke up completely.

So he tried to avoid sleep, tried to avoid the dreams, tried to lie awake in bed all night. His lack of sleep, combined with the plots he made when he was awake and the dreams he had when, despite his efforts he did fall asleep, caused him to slip up in his idiot persona. While his slips started out small, as time went on? Well, they got  _bigger_.

* * *

The very first time Ron slipped, he hadn't gotten more than nine hours of sleep in four days, and it was right before midterms. He and Kim had been studying like mad for the tests, and he had been absorbing the information unintentionally and unwillingly. Apparently, his lack of sleep had also erased his sense of self-preservation. By the time the tests came along, he hadn't been able to focus very well, so he had read the questions and written the information without concentrating on what he was putting down. It seemed, his subconscious wanted to excel in _something_ , even if that something was as meaningless as a test and totally not evil (or so they  _said_ …), so he had written much better and more detailed answers than he had intended. Unfortunately, he didn't realize this until he and Kim got their results back.

He and Kim opened their packets together, and while she squealed in delight over her straights A's, he stared in horror at the paper. Kim noticed his horrified stare and quickly came over, assuring him that his test results couldn't have been  _that_  bad. She pulled the paper out of his hands before he could stop her and she stared, wide-eyed, at the A's and B's that lined the page. She shrieked in excitement and hugged him so hard that his ribs creaked; then she dragged him downstairs to her family, who were all just as excited for him as she was. They invited his parents over and threw him a party, all of them ecstatic at what seemed like his hard work paying off. None of them seemed to notice that he wasn't as happy as they were.

Later that night, as Rufus slept, Ron sat on the edge of his bed and stared at the test results. He was horrified. First the dreams wouldn't stop, and then he had slipped up and allowed himself to get good grades. He had started to show how smart he was. This  _was not good!_  He shuddered. What if he kept slipping up? What would happen if he just… gave in and let himself go evil? Allowed himself to use his full potential? No. He wouldn't let himself. He had made himself a promise, and he would keep it.

He forced himself to put down the results and lie down, knowing that his dreams that night would be worse than usual. Now that he had given in, even if just a little bit, his subconscious would work with that, trying to wear him down; trying to get him to give in. But he wouldn't let it get to him. He would be strong.

Little did Ron know that he would break that promise again just a few days later.

* * *

Ron's next slip came at two in the morning. He was staring at the ceiling, listening to Rufus snore and trying to avoid sleep. He sighed, got out of bed and went downstairs to get a glass of water. Halfway back through the kitchen with the water, he saw the microwave and stopped. He remembered that his dad had been complaining about it recently, and to his sleep-deprived mind, this was the perfect opportunity. He could stay awake and make his dad happy! The microwave was on the table and already half taken apart in less than five minutes.

By the time three in the morning rolled around, Ron was back in his bed, sleeping peacefully for the first time in days, and the microwave was back in its usual spot, looking suspiciously innocent. The next morning, Ron barely remembered what he had done. He was still reveling in finally getting a good night's sleep. When he finally got up and went downstairs, his dad was just about to stick his morning cup of coffee into the microwave. Before Ron could tell his dad to wait, the microwave had told his father good morning, grabbed the coffee with a mechanical hand, and was microwaving it for the precise amount of time needed to warm the coffee. His father froze for several seconds, then finally turned his head  _very slowly_  to look at Ron. Ron winced back at him and gave him a sheepish wave.

Later, Ron relaxed at Bueno Nacho, sighing in relief that his father hadn't caught him in his lie. He said that he'd had Wade fix up the microwave as a surprise. His father was definitely surprised, and also very grateful. He had loved the new-and-improved microwave, and so had his mom. Ron? Not so much, and when Kim came into Bueno Nacho and greeted him with a smile, Ron couldn't help but worry. The abilities he had retained scared him, as did the dreams. But as Kim sat down next to him and gave him a hello kiss, Ron pushed the worries to the back of his mind and resolved not to think about them.

He ignored the subtle whisper in his mind, telling him that building the microwave had been fun. Would building  _other things_  be as fun?

* * *

A few days after the 'Microwave Incident,' as Ron had mentally dubbed it, Drakken and Shego tried to take over the world. Again. And like always, their plan failed. Drakken had kidnapped one of the world's leading robotics engineer and had forced him to build him a state-of-the-art battle suit. The engineer had done it, but he had also sabotaged it as he went, so that by the time Kim, Ron, and Rufus had gotten there, Kim was able to take it down with one hit.

Drakken ordered Shego to distract Kim while he initiated Plan B: 'run away while Shego tries and fails to kill Kim, so that I can get a backup weapon to make up for the (destined) failure of the real weapon.' Normally, this would be when Ron chased after Drakken to ensure he wouldn't get away, but his attention had been captured by the battle suit. He moved forward and knelt by the remains, oddly fascinated by the elegance of the robotics before him. Even the robots Ron came up with weren't as sophisticated as this. He looked around for the engineer. Maybe if Ron could find him, the man would be able to answer some questions!

Just as Ron spotted the engineer in the corner, Kim yelled to him to go after Drakken. Ron frowned at her, watching as she fought Shego in a brilliant display of martial arts. Normally a fight like this would make his heart race and his palms sweaty, but today he just felt normal. He wondered why for a moment, then he just pushed his question aside and walked toward the engineer. He couldn't wait to talk to the man! Just then, a squeak and a tug on his pant leg distracted him, and he looked down. Rufus was staring up at him, pointing towards Drakken. Ron sighed. It wasn't like he could kick Rufus away, and besides, it wasn't as though the engineer wouldn't be here when he got back; he  _was_ a bit tied up, after all.

Ron sighed again and as he held out a hand for Rufus, ignored the disgust he felt as the rodent moved from his hand to his pocket, and—hold on a minute. Since when did he feel disgust towards Rufus? Rufus was his best friend, and he  _definitely_  didn't feel disgust for him. He pushed his thoughts to the back of his head and took off after Drakken, who was already on the main level, bringing the second weapon to bear, as Ron scrambled up the ladder.

Later, after he and Kim had tied up Drakken and Shego, rescued the engineer, and were waiting for authorities to arrive, Ron finally got his chance to talk to the man. He had stopped by the battle suit and picked up the thing that intrigued him the most: the data chip. He walked up to the man and asked for a word in private. The man agreed and they walked a little ways away, just far enough to ensure that Kim and Rufus wouldn't be able to hear them. Then he just started talking, hoping to get all of his questions out before the authorities arrived.

The man blinked at him, wide-eyed, when Ron finally stopped for breath. Then he laughed delightedly, started answering his questions and asked some of his own. They talked until the authorities  _finally_  arrived, and before the man left, he pressed the data chip into Ron's hand, along with his phone number and email address. He then gave Ron a challenge. He told Ron that if he could unravel the data chip, then he could guarantee him a scholarship to any robotics college in the world. Ron, ecstatic, told the man that he would have the chip figured out by the end of high school. The man smiled, clapped Ron on the shoulder, and walked toward the authorities.

As Ron, deliriously happy, went to join Kim, he didn't notice his changed world-view. A few weeks ago, he would have been terrified to even talk about robots, but now he had a man he could call to talk robots with whenever he wanted. How quickly the world changed…

* * *

Over the next few weeks, Ron became obsessed with the chip. He was distracted and unfocused on missions and at school. His grades didn't suffer, but that was only because he didn't care enough to hold himself back anymore. Kim and Rufus were getting really worried about him, as were his parents, but he couldn't care less about what they thought. The only thing he cared about was cracking the chip. It was  _the most_  advanced thing he had ever seen. The code on it was amazing! He was spending every free minute in his room, working on the chip. He started to resent leaving his room for school and missions. When Kim came by, he would say he was busy and send her away. He still came to school and went on missions, but those were the only things he left his room for.

People began to avoid him, even more than they had before. Even the jocks left him alone. It was probably because he had started muttering to himself and manically scribbling on anything he had on hand. Kim started to look freaked out, and Rufus actually went to live with her. Ron buried the small flash of hurt that produced and ignored him. He didn't need those two anyway. And now he had more time to work.

Eventually, Ron had to admit that he had gone as far as he could on his own computer, so he called up Wade and asked him if he had an extra one, a better one, sitting around. Wade was reluctant, but he eventually admitted that he did have an extra computer, and he would lend it to Ron as long as he promised not to break it. Ron eagerly agreed, and was amazed at how much faster breaking the chip was going with the new computer. He stopped sleeping, started missing school, and finally, he missed a mission.

That was it for Kim. She came to his house after the mission, still hyped up on adrenaline and steamed that he had missed the mission. She walked into his room to find him spaced out in front of the computer, staring at lines of code. It looked like he hadn't moved in days, and she was incensed. She stormed over to him, asking furious questions he didn't bother to answer. Eventually her pestering got to him, though, and he told her what he was doing, going so far as to show her the chip. After listening to his explanation, Kim immediately grabbed the chip and told him that he had to learn how to moderate himself.

He lunged for the chip, desperate to get it back and finish his work—he was sure that he was close to a breakthrough—but Kim blocked him. He snarled at her, but she just looked at him with worry and concern, and told him that  _that_  was exactly what she meant. He took a deep breath, trying to reign in his furious anger. If he didn't agree to her demands, she might go even further and convince his parents to get him psychiatric help. So he surrendered the chip and his pride and gave in. Kim smiled in relief and Rufus squeaked at him from her shoulder. Then Kim pulled him up and told him to get cleaned up, because they were going to Bueno Nacho.

She and Rufus left the room so he could shower and get dressed. As they left, Ron closed his eyes and wanted to scream. He resisted though, and did as she had asked; he took a short shower and found a clean pair of clothes. He walked down the stairs to see Kim and Rufus talking cheerfully to his parents, all of them smiling with relief.

They obviously had  _no idea_  what they had done ( _how could they_? his dying conscience yelled faintly at him.  _You never told them!_ ) But he easily ignored the quiet voice. At that moment, Ron couldn't imagine hating them more.

* * *

The event that caused his final fall into the darkness was a fight just like any other. Ron had been acting "normal" for about a week, and Kim and Rufus were finally relaxed around him. Rufus had even moved back in. Ron, however, had not lost any of his anger. Instead, it had solidified from a hot, writhing mass in his stomach to an ice cold numbness that had spread into his entire body. He  _needed_  to work on the chip, but he knew that telling Kim, or trying to take the chip back, would only result in her keeping it longer. Besides, he didn't know where Kim had hidden it. So he ignored the chip and did what he was supposed to do, went to school and hung out with friends, acting so "normal" that everyone wondered why they had been so worried about him.

But then the mission happened.

It was just another mission, something that usually happened every other day and twice on weekends. It was, however, the first mission Ron had been on since Kim had taken the chip away. Dementor had kidnapped a doctor, a specialist in poisons, to create an extremely toxic airborne poison to use on Kim. He, Kim, and Rufus snuck into the base, crawled through the air vents and looked for where the doctor was being held. They finally found him in the main room of the base, strapped to a table while one of Dementor's henchmen tortured him with a laser scalpel. Kim started to tell Ron their plan, but Ron was no longer listening.

The  _look_  on the man's face… the expression of complete and utter  _terror_ … it was  _wonderful_! And suddenly Ron felt the urge to see that expression on Kim's face; to see her understand just how screwed she really was. But he resisted the urge and when she dropped from the air vent onto a henchman's shoulders, he was right behind her, just like always. Kim and Ron easily took down the guards and rescued the doctor, though a lot of things got broken in the process. Soon they captured Dementor, as well, and Kim called the authorities. While she helped the doctor, Ron went and finished securing the henchmen. Just as he finished and was about to go join Kim, he saw some light glinting off of something on the floor. It was a sharp piece of metal, about a foot long, which had broken off of the table. He grabbed it and stuck it in his pocket, knowing that he would use it for something… fun.

He went to join Kim and Rufus, feeling the hidden weight of the shard.

* * *

Kim is standing next to Ron, watching the authorities load up Dementor and the henchmen. Soon, she, Ron, and Rufus are the only people left in the castle courtyard. Kim looks hesitatingly at Ron, then follows his gaze to the sky.

"It looks like it's about to rain, Ron. Maybe we should go back inside until our ride gets here." Ron doesn't move. He's still staring at the sky. She touches his arm, trying to get his attention. "Ron?"

Ron sighs and looks down at her, meeting her questioning gaze head on. She stares at him, trying to ignore the feeling of  _wrongness_  she's getting, when he takes her hand.

"Kim, I-I'm sorry. I've been a real jerk lately, and I've been treating you horribly. Can you forgive me?" Kim feels butterflies in her stomach, staring at their joined hands. It's been weeks since he has voluntarily touched her. This is a great sign!

"Of course I forgive you, Ron! I'm so glad that you're feeling better!" Rufus, on her shoulder, squeaks in agreement. She carefully considers, then cautiously leans toward him, her heart fluttering as he leans toward her as well. He's going to kiss her! She closes her eyes as her lips finally meet his… only to open them again with a gasp as a searing pain rips through her insides. She tears her mouth away from his, looking down to find a foot-long piece of metal buried in her stomach, Ron's hand resting casually on the end.

"R-Ron?" He ignores her horrified whisper and slowly pulls the metal out of her stomach, staring at her face as she screams with pain and falls to the ground. Rufus shrieks and leaps at him, just as the first raindrop falls. The shard of metal, already stained with blood, collects some more as Rufus slips off of it and falls to the ground. Kim can't muster up the strength to help him, can only lie sprawled on the ground, grasping at her wound as the puddle of red underneath her grows.

The sky is dimming before her eyes, and she can barely hear Ron's last words to her, can barely see him as he stands up and walks away from her for the last time. She feels a drop of water roll down her face, from her eye to her chin, but she can't tell if it's a raindrop or a tear.

As he walks away, Ron can no longer hold back the laughter. The  _expression_  on her face! It had been just as perfect as he had imagined. So he leaves, just walks away, hands dripping in blood; leaving nothing behind but two corpses and an echo of chilling, haunted laughter.


	2. We Need a Miracle Over Here!

**When Dreams Become Reality**

_We Need A Miracle Over Here!_

The end of the world—Kim's world—started with a scream.

" _Mwahahaha! You won't win this time, Kim Possible! I_ — _What? What was that?"_

No one could have predicted what came next.

" _Don't worry, Dr. D. I just dropped a stack of crates on the sidekick."_

The war on crime began with a keening wail.

" _Ron? Ron, are you okay? Ron, answer me!"_

Wade had had an inexplicable sense of dread that day, but he didn't know why—at least, not until he opened the video screen and saw Kim's tear-stained face.

" _Relax, Princess. I'm sure he's fine. Now—wait, what are you doing?"_

Rufus had escaped death by not being there. Ron had sent him to turn off the doomsday machine while he and Kim acted as distractions. He couldn't help but think that maybe, if he'd been there, he could have stopped Shego from dropping the crates.

" _Ron, answer me! Ron, you better be okay! If this is some kind of sick joke, I'll... R-Ron?"_

Shego's last sight was of Kim standing over her like an avenging angel, her red hair looking like fire.

" _N-No._   _ **No.**_   _Nononononono. T-This can't be h-happening. Ron, you've got to wake up. C-Come on, Ron. P-Please. B-Be okay, Ron. You have to be okay._ Pleeeease… _"_

Drakken's last sight was also of Kim. But instead of finding her standing over him, he saw her kneeling on the floor, weeping next to a still, bloody body.

" _Um, Miss Possible? Is he… Is he okay? Kim?"_

It had been a normal day for the Stoppables. Ron had been on a mission with Kim, so they'd had most of the day to themselves. They hadn't been worried when it began to get dark; it wasn't like their son hadn't stayed out late before. But then the doorbell rang.

" _ **YOU.**_ _This is all. Your. Fault!"_

Kim's parents had also not been worried. Kim could handle herself, and they were very used to her coming and going at all hours. So when the door finally opened, her parents turned around calmly. Then they took in their daughter's red, tear-stained face, and quickly rushed to catch her as she collapsed in fresh tears.

" _Princess, what are you talking about? It's not my—wait, what are you doing? Wait,_ _ **stop!**_ _N—ahhh!"_

The funeral was lovely, or at least as lovely as a funeral could be. Ron's rabbi gave the eulogy, and Kim and Rufus were each allowed to drop a shovelful of dirt on the coffin right after Ron's parents. Kim and Rufus stood there staring at the grave, long after everyone else had left. Neither of them moved when someone came up behind them.

" _ **Shego!**_ _No! Kim Possible, what have you don—arghh!"_

Wade—the real Wade, not a hologram or a robot—moved to stand next to them. He didn't say anything, just stood there, silently lending his support. Finally, as the sun sank down below the horizon, Kim broke down.

" _W-Wade? Wade, pick up. Come on, Wade!"_

Over the next few weeks, villains started to go missing.

" _Yeah, Kim, I'm here. I just really had to go to the bathro- Kim? Kim, what's wrong?"_

At first, no one seemed to notice or care, but when Gemini, the twin brother of the head of Global Justice, went missing, people started asking questions.

" _W-Wade… It-it's Ron, Wade."_

They figured out that it had started almost four weeks ago, when Drakken and Shego had disappeared. When the authorities had shown up at their hideout, this time to arrest them for murder, they weren't there. No one had seen them since.

" _What do you mean, Kim? What's wrong with Ron? Let me talk to him, Kim!"_

The next villain to disappear was Lord Monkey Fist. An anonymous caller had told the police where his hideout was, but when the authorities got there, all they found were a bunch of monkeys in a cage. Monkey Fist was nowhere to be found.

" _Y-You can't, Wade. You can't talk to him."_

Dementor was the next to go. Another anonymous caller told them where his hideout was, but the scene was almost the same. A bunch of henchmen tied up, with Dementor vanished into thin air.

" _Why can't I talk to him, Kim?"_

DNAmy was next. This time, however, they found her—or rather, what was left of her. Apparently, one of her mutated pets had eaten her.

" _B-Because… He's dead, Wade. He's d-dead."_

Villains kept dropping like flies, all dying in 'accidents.' Each death was followed by an anonymous call to the police. Duff Killigan died from a misfired golf ball; a line of Bebe robots were found strewn all over the world; Gill drowned  _on land_ ; Motor Ed got run over by a car; Camille Léon's body was found shape-shifted into a form that had no mouth or nose to breathe with; Señor Senior, Sr. fell on his own cane; and Señor Senior, Jr. died from heat stroke.

" _W-What? What do you mean, he's dead? He can't be dead! He-He's_ _ **Ron!**_ _"_

No one had any idea what was going on. Villains just  _did not_  die in stupid accidents like this! It just wasn't possible!

" _I-I know! I know, Wade. But… Shego dropped a stack of crates on him. One of them had a steel spike protruding from it. It went straight through him."_

They decided that it was a new serial killer, one who only went after other criminals. His (or her—they didn't know which, yet) MO was to make the murders look like accidents, and send an anonymous call to the police afterward. They had no idea who it could be.

_"What?_ _**No!** _ _He can't be d-dead! He can't be!"_

After a few months, all of the well-known, public villains were dead, and the killer was moving onto the lesser-knowns.

" _I-I know, Wade. I know. But you have to keep it together, okay? You need to call up our fastest ride."_

Eventually, the media got hold of the news. They named the killer the 'Shadow Man,' because no one had ever seen him/her. Every time a villain was killed and the anonymous caller came on the line, the media were almost always the second to arrive on the scene.

" _Okay, right. A ride. I can do that. A ride, yeah. Okay, I'll get one for y-you."_

Meanwhile, Kim was dividing her attention between school and on Rufus. With the 'Shadow Man' killing the villains, she no longer had to go on missions. Her parents, though they never said anything, were almost more worried about her now than they had been when she was on missions.

" _O-Okay, Kim. Your ride is about ten minutes away."_

Even though her parents were worried, they never told her that they noticed her sneaking out at all times of the night. And when she came back exhausted the next day, and the media headlines screamed about another 'Shadow Man' murder, they exchanged determined looks and resolved not to say anything. Besides, some of the murders took place in the daytime. Maybe it wasn't her?

" _Great. Thanks, Wade."_

When she, Wade, and Rufus had decided to start on their vendetta, they knew that an alibi would be essential. So Wade had made a robot that looked, sounded, and acted exactly like her. That freed her from the confines of school, and allowed her to dispense vengeance at any time.

" _Um, K-Kim? Can I ask you something?"_

None of the villains had seen it coming.

" _Sure, Wade. What do you want to know?"_

At first, she and Wade were just going to kill them—make sure that they got what they deserved—but then Rufus reminded them of their ultimate goal. So before Kim killed any of them, she asked them a question.

" _Where are Drakken and Shego?"_

The villains were more afraid of what Kim could do to them than they were of death. So they all answered her question and they all answered wrong.

" _They're… well… Let's just say that they'll never bother anyone ever again."_

After she had killed every single one of the major villains, she'd moved on; to the petty criminals in the shadows; to the drug lords; to the warlords terrorizing nations; to anyone who might have the right answer to the question. Not one of them could answer her.

" _Kim,_ _ **what did you do?**_ _"_

For a time after she had exhausted all of her criminal options, she lay low. The media had a field day speculating about where the 'Shadow Man' had gone. During this time, Kim was utterly surprised to find out that Señor Senior, Sr., had left his entire fortune to her. What was even more surprising was that she hadn't had to fake the will; it had been left to her long before she had killed him. One of the stipulations, though was that she had to move to his—now her—private island. Her parents finally agreed to it, seeing as it was summer by then, on the condition that she take Wade with her. She agreed, because she had been planning on taking him with her anyway. It would be much easier to carry out her plans from a private island.

"…  _I killed them, Wade."_

With her new private jet (and a brand-spankin'-new pilot's license), it was much easier to get to where Wade would send her. And with a whole new  _room_  full of state-of-the-art, brand new computers, it was much easier for Wade to track down where Kim needed to go.

" _Why, Kim?"_

Soon, Wade tracked a new rumor to the Yamanouchi School in Japan. They were unable to help her, but they did send her to a man whom they thought might be able to. He was unable to help as well, but he redirected her onward. On and on it went, down a very long line of very promising people; all of whom were unable to help her.

" _So they can't ever hurt anyone else ever again."_

Finally, though, someone gave her a solid lead. A man in Egypt directed her to a man in Rome; a man who was part of a sect of people that still worshipped the Old Ones; he said he had restored people to life before. Kim, Rufus, and Wade were all quietly optimistic.

" _Oh."_

The lead turned out to be telling the truth; the man from Rome  _could_  bring people back to life; Kim watched him do it. She commissioned him immediately.

" _But Kim… What about the rest of the criminals? They're still out there, hurting people. I mean, they can't hurt R-Ron, anymore, but what about everyone else?"_

The man had some limitations, however; either the body had to have recently died, or it had to have been frozen. Kim, Rufus, and Wade assured him that it would be no problem. They also promised that if he came with them and said nothing about what he saw, they would pay him a great deal of money.

" _I'm going to kill them all, Wade. I'm going to make sure that_ none of them _can hurt anyone else ever again. But I'm going to need to your help. Are you with me?"_

She flew them to the island. If the man hadn't been promised a very, very large sum of money, he probably would've bailed the second he got a look at the place. It still looked very much like an evil fortress. Kim kinda liked it.

"… _Yes. Yes, Kim. I'm with you."_

She pulled Ron out of the cyro unit that they'd taken from Drakken's lair— they had replaced Ron's body in the casket with a robot that had looked exactly like him—and the man started his ritual.

" _ **Good."**_

It worked.

" _But… What about R-Ron? What will we do without him?"_

Ron's very first thought, upon awakening, was: 'Why aren't I dead? I should be dead!' His last memory was of a stack of crates falling on him, a sharp pain in his chest, and then… nothing. 'What was going on?'

" _We're going to bring him back, Wade._ _ **We will bring him back**_ _."_

The very first thing Ron saw when he opened his eyes was a kind-looking man standing over him. The man smiled at him and opened his mouth to say something. Then, out of nowhere, there was a  _sword_  coming out of his chest. Blood sprayed all over Ron; the blade slid back and the man fell to his knees, then slumped sideways, an expression of surprise and horror etched across his face. Kim stood there, a bloody sword clutched in her hand.

He gaped at her in horror as she completely disregarded the body at her feet. Instead, she smiled at him and kissed him before he could think to move away.

"K-Kim? What? What's going on? Why did you just k-kill that man?"

" _But how, Kim? It's not like he's going to just magically heal and wake up out of nowhere! People don't come back from the dead!"_

Kim explained everything to him; everything she, Rufus, and Wade had gotten up to while—he swallowed—while he'd been dead. He stared at her, aghast, as she calmly talked about all of the people she had killed, starting with Drakken and Shego and ending with the poor man who had brought him back.

As if that wasn't bad enough, she then told him about their plan for the future. She was going to take over the world, and with Ron at her right, Rufus at her left, and Wade at her back, she would be unstoppable. She would stop crime for good, and make sure that no one else would be hurt like she had been hurt. When she was finished and waiting serenely for his reaction, he stared at her in horror.

"I'm never going to join you, Kim! You've gone insane!" She just laughed at him, noticing how hard he was fighting to keep his eyes open.

"You're still weak from the resurrection ritual, Ron. Go to sleep, okay? We can talk more when you wake up."

He panted, terrified of falling asleep with her standing there, but unable to resist sleep's siren call any longer. Right before he lost consciousness, she brushed a kiss over his lips and murmured something to him.

" _It doesn't matter, Wade. We're going to bring him back._ _ **By any means necessary.**_ _"_

"Don't worry, Ron. You'll join us—one way or another."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own this, I never have and I never will. I just like torturing my favorite characters.  
> 


	3. Don't Worry! This Won't Hurt Us At All!

**When Dreams Become Reality**

_Don't Worry! This Won't Hurt Us At All!_

There was an empty table in the room, which was surrounded by chairs. Each chair had a person in it. The room was dark enough nobody could see each other's faces. The room was also silent. No one spoke until, finally, somebody sighed.

"We've all agreed that none of us can beat  _her_ , yes?"

"Sure we can! I've almost beaten her before!"

"Oh, shut up! A stupid net above snapping turtles that don't snap doesn't count! Seriously!"

There was another moment of silence. Finally, someone else sighed.

"Fine. I will be the bigger person. None of us have ever beaten  _her_  permanently before, and the way things are going, none of us ever will. I'm one of the richest men in the world, and even with all of the things my money has been able to buy, I've been unable to beat her."

"Aye! Nothing has been able to help! None of us have succeeded against the wee lassie!"

"Speak for yourself! I've managed to beat  _her_ , and I've— "

"Failed in taking over the world? Let  _her_  get away? Got taken out by the  _sidekick_? Made me do all of the actual work? Been a  _complete failure_?"

"Oh, like you've done any better."

"Actually, I believe that  _I've_  gotten the closest. I succeeded in gaining the Monkey Powers, after all, and I—"

"Lost them to the sidekick and the sidekick's pet?"

"You leave my love-muffin alone! He's a great villain!"

"Oh, you shut up! You're even more pathetic than Junior!"

"Hey! I only do this because my father is bored with just being rich! And I really only want to be a singer, anyway!"

"Junior!"

"What? It is true!"

"He's got a point there, gramps. Maybe you should leave this to the real villains!"

"I  _am_  a real villain!"

"Oh please! 'Snapping Turtles Boy' over there is a better villain than you, and he's pathetic!"

"Ah, thanks! Hey… wait just a minute! I'm not pathetic!"

"Alright! Everyone, calm down! We're here to figure out how to beat  _her_ , not rehash old arguments, remember?"

There were varied grumbles of assent before the room quieted down again.

"Thank you! Now,  _honestly_ , who has both captured her and had a genuine chance of permanently defeating her?"

"…I have. She'd even given up, mostly."

"I as well. I had only been seconds away from gaining my full power."

"And what stopped you? What helped her win and destroy you?"

"…The sidekick."

"…The sidekick and his pet."

"Is anyone else seeing a pattern here? What's the one thing that has always helped  _her_ , even when we were only seconds away from victory? How many of you could have managed to defeat  _her_  if the sidekick hadn't been there?"

"…All of us?"

"Exactly! I, too, could have beaten her _—_ and my  _sister_  in the process—if only it hadn't been for the sidekick."

"So what are we waiting for? Let's kill him then, if that'll help us beat her!"

"Yeah! If he's all that's keeping us from victory, what's stopping us?"

"I don't know… Isn't  _killing_  him a bit hasty?"

"No! If we get rid of him, she won't have a leg to stand on!"

"…Wait. Crazy lady over there might have a point."

"Aww, thanks!"

"What do you mean? He's the only thing between us and victory, and everyone knows what villains do with obstacles."

"Yeah! We remove them!"

"Because, as much as I hate to admit it, the sidekick has the potential for great evil within him."

"The  _buffoon_? Potential? Surely you must be joking!"

"No, the bossman's right. The kid can be very,  _very_  bad."

"How so? And how do you know?"

"When he was hit with the Attitudinator, the kid had more evil in his pinky finger than everyone in this room  _combined_. His reflexes were amazing, his brain power and intelligence were off the charts, and he was an amazing fighter."

"So what? The Attitudinator and its plans were destroyed. No one can rebuild it now."

"Yeah, man! Even _I_  can't build something without plans! Seriously!"

"My idiotic cousin has a point. The buffoon, without the Attitudinator, would never even consider going evil. He's too, ugh,  _good_  for that. There's more possibility of  _her_  going bad than him."

"But what if we could  _make_  him bad?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, what if he didn't know he was good? What if he thought that he was evil and always had been?"

"You mean, brainwash him?"

"Sort of. What if we took away his memories? All of them? Convinced him that we were his friends and occasional team-up partners? 'Re-trained' him in the ways of evil until he thought that his mission in life was to take over the world?  _And_  to take down the Princess in the process?"

"And you really think that that will work?"

"It will, if we all work together."

"Can we? We're all villains, after all."

"Not all of us."

"Hush, Junior… I am in. I will help with expenses."

"…I'm in too! I can help improve him!"

"Fine. I'm in as well. The boy is the Monkey Master, like it or not, and he'll need  _someone_  to teach him how to properly use his powers."

"I'm in, man! He'll need someone to teach him how to make a sweet ride! Seriously!"

"Me too. My organization will help keep an eye both on  _her_  and on my sister."

"I'm in, lassie. Someone'll need to teach the lad to aim!"

"I'll teach him all he ever wanted to know about technology! He'll be brilliant!"

"Excellent. Dr. D?"

"…Fine! I'm in."

"Great! Here's what we'll do…"

* * *

When I woke up, I was strapped to a cold metal table. Not that surprisingly (my first defense is always to joke), my first thought was,  _You know? Waking up tied down isn't that weird anymore._  My second thought was,  _Where's Kim_? I opened my eyes to find out and immediately started panicking.

I was surrounded by villains. Shego, Monkey Fist, and Senor Senior were standing at the end of the table, and Junior was standing behind his father, reading a magazine and looking utterly uninterested in the proceedings. I could hear more people moving around behind me, and someone reached around my head and attached electrodes to my temples while I was looking around.

"Shego? What the heck is going on? Where's Kim? Where's Rufus? What have you done to them!?"

Shego smiled at me. It wasn't a nice smile.

"Calm down, kid. We haven't done anything to them. We only took you."

"What? Why? Am I supposed to be bait?"

"No, no, my boy." Senior took over for Shego. "You're not bait at all. You're the big catch."

I instantly grew more worried. If I wasn't bait… "What do you mean, 'the big catch?'"

Monkey Fist spoke up next, a cruel smile playing across his mouth.

"Drakken and Shego have told us of your so-called 'evil side,' and we decided that we wanted to see it for ourselves. You're here, and not dead, because they convinced us that you could be a worthy villain."

I almost started hyperventilating. This couldn't be happening! Not again!

"The Attitudinator and its plans were destroyed! There's no way that you can rebuild it!"

This time, Drakken spoke from somewhere behind me. "We're not going to rebuild it. We're going to do something  _better_."

"What—what do you mean? What're you going to do to me!?"

Shego spoke again. This time, she was holding up some kind of remote.

"Don't worry so much! We're only going to erase your entire memory and convince you that you've always been evil, after all! There's nothing to worry about!"

I  _stared_  at her. That… I couldn't think of anything to say to that. No, wait a second. What did the captured hero or sidekick always say at moments like this?

"You won't get away with this! Kim  _will_  stop you!"

Shego, Monkey Fist, Senor Senior, and everyone behind me—even  _Junior—_ started laughing. Shego stopped first and nodded to the people behind me. I felt hands reach up and attach restraints around my neck and the top of my head and I spoke again before Shego could continue.

"Please, Shego! Don't do this!"

"Too late, kid. And don't worry! This won't hurt us at all!"

Shego pressed the button on her remote, and soon I was too focused on pure, undiluted  _pain_  and on keeping my brain from leaking out of my ears to hear anything else. I passed out.

* * *

I woke up slowly. My head  _hurt_ , and I was finding it extremely difficult to concentrate. Finally, though, I was able to force my eyes to open… and then I closed them again right away, because the light was  _blinding_. A woman's voice spoke up.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, sweetie! I didn't even think about the lights. I'll turn them off right away!" A moment later, she spoke again. "Okay dumpling! The lights are off now. Can you open your pretty eyes for me?"

I reluctantly opened my eyes again, and sighed in relief when I saw that the room was dark. Once I'd adjusted to the level of light in the room, I finally caught a glimpse of the woman.

She was short and plump, with short dark hair and a pink sweatshirt with a purple butterfly on it. She was smiling widely at me and I shifted uncomfortably. It was a slightly creepy smile, made even more disconcerting by the fact that I didn't know who she was.

She didn't say anything, so I finally spoke up.

"Um, I'm sorry, but… do I know you?" Then I had a sudden, horrible thought. I tried to remember who  _I_  was, and _I couldn't._  The only things I remembered were this room and the woman.

"Who am I? Why can't I remember what happened to me?  _What's going on_?!"

The woman's smile disappeared (I was slightly grateful for that), and she hurried around the side of the bed to press a button. Then she patted my arm.

"Calm down, sugar! You'll be fine. The doctors thought that this might happen. Just go to sleep, okay? We'll be here when you wake up."

My eyes wouldn't stay open any longer, so I surrendered to the siren call of sleep. My last thought before I did so was,  _who am I?_

* * *

The next time I woke up, my head hurt less and everything was slightly clearer. I still remembered the room, and the woman, and—as far as I knew—I hadn't forgotten any more memories (which really wasn't saying anything, of course).

The room had been silent, and I hadn't opened my eyes yet, so I jumped when a woman said, "We know that you're awake, kid."

I cautiously opened my eyes, and blinked when I took in the two people standing by the end of my bed. A man and a woman were there, both odd-looking.

The woman had long black hair with a green tint to it, light  _mint-green skin_ , and was wearing a black and green jumpsuit. The man had short black hair, an evil looking scar across the side of his face,  _blue skin_ , and was wearing a blue lab coat. I stared at them for a moment before speaking.

"Um, I might not remember anything, but is having blue and green skin normal?" Obviously, I didn't have a brain-to-mouth filter or a tact filter. The man glared at me, and I was just opening my mouth to apologize, when the woman laughed. Both the man and I stared at her in confusion.

"No, kid. Having either blue or green skin isn't exactly normal. But then, we're not exactly normal, anyway."

"We? Do I have blue skin too?" I tried to raise my arm, or lift my head to see my skin, but I was too weak. For some reason, the idea of me having oddly-colored skin bothered me, and I wondered why. Was it a lingering memory that I hadn't lost?

"No, kid. You're still pink." I blinked again as the man knocked me out of my thoughts.

"Oh, okay." I stared at them for a moment. "Could you tell me my name? And yours?"

The woman shook her head.

"Sorry, kid. The doctors said that it was better for you to try to remember on your own." I frowned at them.

"So, do you know who I am?" Suddenly, a thought occurred to me. "Why haven't I seen a doctor yet? Shouldn't they be checking on me by now?"

The man and woman exchanged a look, and then looked back at me.

The man spoke this time.

"We do know who you are, kid. And… you haven't seen a doctor yet, because we're not in a hospital."

 _I wasn't in a hospital?_  What the heck?

"I have amnesia! I can't remember  _anything_  before I woke up here, and  _I'm not in a hospital_?! Are you people nuts?" Both of them were glaring at me now, but I couldn't bring myself to care.

"You should be thanking us! We rescued you from the cops, after all. Did you really want to wake up in a holding cell?"

I stared at them for a moment, feeling numb. Did they really just say what I'd thought they'd said?

"A holding cell? What, am I some kind of criminal?" I was practically laughing by then. A  _criminal_? They couldn't be serious. The very idea was ludicrous. But both of them were nodding and the woman almost looked proud.

"Yep, kid. A  _super_ criminal, or a  _supervillain_ , to be exact."

"One of the best!" the man threw in. "Your Mega-Weather-Generator is the stuff of legends!"

I stared at them. They weren't serious. They couldn't be serious! I wasn't a criminal! I couldn't be! I wasn't!

I could hear something beeping and speeding up, but I didn't care. I was still staring at them in shock, when they looked at the source of the beeping. The woman's eyes widened and she hurried around the bed and pressed a button by the IV going into my arm. I could feel the sedative (how did I know that word? How did I know any of this?) working this time, and I slid unwillingly into sleep.

* * *

After that, a different person was with me every time I woke up. A tall blond man with a mullet and a serious case of "Seriously!" (He promised to teach me how to drive. Was that another skill that I'd forgotten?) A man in a kilt who promised to teach me how to aim any and all weapons I picked up (I wondered why he thought that I would be picking up weapons and then remembered that everyone thought that I was a criminal, a  _super_ criminal).

A hairy man in a black gi, who ate bananas with his feet, told me that he'd be retraining me in the use of my powers. (Powers? I had  _powers_? What the heck did that mean?) An ordinary looking man, who switched horrible accents like breathing, told me that he'd be teaching me how to blend in and how to destroy the internet (how those two things worked together, I had no idea).

A large man with a mechanical hand and a chihuahua promised me that he was keeping an eye out for his sister and  _her_  (he wouldn't tell me who either of those people were, though). The same woman from the first time pouted and told me that the others hadn't let her 'improve' me while I'd been out (I didn't know what she meant by 'improve,' but I was very glad that they hadn't let her do it).

And the blue man and green woman. They were there the most and they were the ones who tried to convince me the hardest. They showed me a video of the Mega-Weather-Generator, and another one of me fighting some kind of duplicating clones in red jumpsuits. They told me that they couldn't find any more videos, that they'd all been confiscated by Global Justice or  _her_  (although they wouldn't tell me who this  _her_ was either), but that didn't really matter. Both of the videos they'd shown me had been pretty compelling evidence.

The only thing that I really didn't understand in the videos was my accent. I could tell that I didn't have one currently, and I didn't understand how I could have had an accent then and not now. The green woman had merely raised a sardonic eyebrow when I'd asked her about that.

"It was your shtick, kid. It was just what you did to appear more evil. You don't exactly look the part, you know."

The accent had made me appear more evil? I had to admit that I did need the help, although I couldn't quite see what speaking in an accent had to do with anything. When I'd finally gotten enough strength to go to the bathroom on my own, I studied myself in the mirror. I was of average height, a little on the tall side, with blond hair and brown eyes. I had almost no body fat and though I was skinny, I had very well-defined muscles. I was obviously a runner of some sort. It wasn't very noticeable, however, and I really did look pretty average.

I definitely didn't look stereotypically evil. But who knew?

* * *

After almost a week of lying in bed and being babysat by supervillains (a weirdness you have to experience to believe, trust me), it became obvious that I wasn't going to remember anything on my own. So my babysitters finally told me their names.

The blond mullet dude was Motor Ed, but I could just call him "Ed, seriously!" The dude in the kilt was Duff Killigan, and I could call him Killigan. The karate guy was Monkey Fist, and I could call him "Monkey Fist.  _Just_  Monkey Fist." Internet guy was Frugal Lucre, but I could call him Lucre. Pink lady was DNAmy, but I could call her Amy. Mechanical hand guy was Gemini, "just Gemini, no matter what my sister says!"

The green lady was Shego and the blue man was Drakken. For some reason, I felt like I knew them better than the rest of the little group. It was an… odd sort of feeling, knowing someone without knowing how or why you knew them. I wasn't sure how I felt about it.

And then, finally, they told me  _my_  name. My name was Ron, no last name (I hadn't told them. Apparently, all I'd said was that my last name was embarrassing and unworthy of a supervillain), but I hadn't gone by that name in a while. Instead, I went by Zorpox.

My first thought upon hearing my villain name was  _what was I_ on _when I came up with that_? I shared that thought with Shego and Drakken and they both stared at me before bursting out laughing. Apparently, I had been under the influence of  _something_  when I'd come up with it, although they wouldn't tell me what. (I suspected drugs. Or alcohol.)

I felt  _something_  when I heard the name I'd chosen for myself, but I didn't feel anything when they told me my birth name. I couldn't tell what the emotion was, but at least it was  _there_. After almost a whole day of debating the two names, I made my decision.

I told the little group that I wanted to be called Zorpox. Their evil smirks were heartwarming (and scary, but I wasn't going to say that out loud. I was a villain now—again—and I had a standard to uphold).

* * *

Training was  _hard_.

It was only two weeks after I'd woken up, so I was still weak. I could remember nothing, so I had no idea how to do anything. My only muscle memories were of running and dodging, both of which I was a master at.

On my first day of training, Shego showed me a stance and told me to copy it. She took one look at my pitiful attempt, sighed… and promptly knocked me over. She stood over my fallen form, looked down at me, and informed me that I had a long way to go.

All of my lessons that day were hard and went the same way as Shego's. In other words, badly. All of the villains seemed disappointed in my lack of skill. I knew that I owed them a  _lot_ —they hadn't  _had_  to rescue me from the police or stick around afterwards to help me regain my abilities. I hated not being able to do these things—things that they regarded as basic skills, like lock-picking and building working doomsday machines. When I went to bed that night, with both my brain and my body hurting, I resolved to do better the next day. And I did.

I threw my whole self into learning the lessons they taught me. And to my surprise, the more I tried, and the longer I worked at it, the easier everything became. And—although I could tell that my jokes annoyed them—the little group of villains never gave up on me.

By the time a month had gone by, I had—according to what Drakken and Shego knew of my abilities pre-amnesia—regained most of my basic abilities. By the time two months had passed, I was making my way back to my old skills—the more complicated ones—and by the time the three month mark passed, I had surpassed them.

I could take down and re-build all of Drakken's inventions—and I could make them better. I was giving Shego an actual  _fight_ , and on my good days I could actually beat her. I had gotten so good at hacking that Lucre was confident that I could take down the internet any time that I wanted to. I could aim and fire almost any type of weapon that Killigan put into my hands.

I could disable any vehicle that Ed gave me, and put them back together better than before. My monster ideas impressed even Amy, and I'd gained a basic knowledge of biology and bio-technology, which I knew were going to come in handy. Monkey Fist had spent that whole time teaching me, first to meditate, and then, when I'd gotten a hold of that, how to control my Monkey Master powers. He was confident that I had a very good handle on it, though he still thought that I needed more training.

That I'd progressed so fast had impressed them, and I'd heard them talking (yes, I'd been eavesdropping. I was a villain in training!) about possibly taking me out on some very easy heists, just to test me. I'd gotten good enough that they thought it might be possible within a few weeks. I was ecstatic. I wanted to do it, so I could prove myself to the group, this group of people that I'd grown to know and care for.

I'd gotten to know them very well, over the three months I'd spent with them (although they all took a week off, here and there, just to have a break. I didn't mind. It just meant that I'd gotten a break from their lessons too), and I knew that they were more than what they'd first appeared.

Drakken was a ham; he loved making big devices and even bigger speeches, but he picked himself back up every time he was beaten. Shego was mean and sarcastic, but she never gave up on Drakken, even when he insulted her (or tried to control her with a mind controlling chip. Yeah, I'd heard all about  _that_  little altercation. It'd sprouted the seeds of a plan in my mind). Plus, she was a surprisingly good teacher.

Lucre liked fake accents and horrible disguises, but he was very smart and had really good ideas—if you could find them in all of his babble. Killigan had amazing aim, and could make a golf ball do anything he wanted it to. Ed had a huge mouth and a huge build, but he also had the skills to back them up.

Amy was cheerful and sweet all the time, but she had a surprisingly mean side—as well as a huge crush on Monkey Fist, which was most emphatically  _not returned._  Monkey Fist hated the fact that I was the Monkey Master and he wasn't, but he was also polite enough to leave the topic alone and just focus on trying to help me master it. Gemini had serious issues with his sister, and he wasn't the brightest bulb in the box, but he genuinely loved his chihuahua, and once he decided on a course of action, he stuck to it.

And just when I'd gotten to know them, just when we'd started to work out our kinks and managed to look like we were coming together as a team… That's when everything started going wrong.

* * *

I'd been firmly asleep when Shego shook me awake. Of course, seeing as it was one in the morning, that was to be expected.

"Come on, kid! Get up and get dressed!" Shego pulled me roughly to my feet, ignoring my drowsy state, and pushed my clothes into my arms as she turned to face the still-open door. "This isn't a drill, Zorpox! Get dressed  _now._ "

I hurriedly pulled on my clothes, trying to force my brain to wake up, as I focused as best I could. "What's going on, Shego? Are we under attack?" I stepped next to her as I finished pulling on my shirt, and she grabbed my arm and pulled my out of my room and down the hallway. I could vaguely hear explosions in the distance.

"Of course we're under attack, kid! How on Earth did you not wake up earlier? You can hear the explosions from here! Never mind, we don't have time for this! Just keep running! We have to get to the escape ship before  _she_  shows up!" I stumbled after her, eventually getting my feet under me as I came fully awake. I ran to catch up with her.

"Shego! Wait! Who  _is_  this  _her_?" Shego snorted and kept running, not even pausing as she answered me. I still think that she wouldn't have replied so bluntly, if she hadn't been so distracted.

"She's the one who gave you your amnesia, of course."

I stumbled to a halt, staring after her in shock. She ran a few more feet before noticing that I wasn't with her. She cursed violently, ran back and grabbed my arm, pulling me after her as she resumed running.

"Come on! We don't have time for this!  _She's catching up!_ " I ran without talking, but I definitely wasn't happy. I  _was_  going to bring this up at the earliest opportunity.

We ran through the twisting, never-ending corridors that made up the underground base that was the only home I could remember. Finally, we came to an open door that I was sure hadn't been there before. Shego didn't hesitate. She yanked me through the doorway and toward the base of an extremely tall staircase.

We ran up the stairs in silence, the only noise coming from our pounding footsteps and the distant, ever-present explosions. We finally reached the top and emerged into blinding light. I gasped and threw a hand over my eyes, but Shego didn't stop. She just grabbed my other hand and kept pulling me along.

When my eyes finally adjusted, I gaped at the sight in front of me. We were running through an extremely well-lit courtyard, with walls ahead of us and on our sides. We were running full-tilt towards a helicopter—one that was already up and running, if the spinning blades were any indication.

Shego and I jumped into the helicopter. We were barely buckled in when the pilot lurched into the air. Shego tossed me a headset and I pulled it on as I took in the other people onboard—or, rather, the lack of other people onboard. Counting me and Shego, there were only two other people there, neither of whom I'd met before.

The pilot was an older, distinguished-looking man with gray hair and a cane propped next to his seat. The person sitting next to me had massive shoulders, perfect hair, and displayed a practiced expression of haughty boredom on his face. Both of them wore well-made and extremely expensive-looking clothes. I turned back to Shego.

"Shego, where are the others? Were they captured? We have to rescue them!"

Shego interrupted me with a laugh (a surprisingly nice laugh, considering from whom it was coming).

"Calm down, kid. They're going to meet us at the next rendezvous point." I deflated slightly.

"Oh." and then, after a pause, "So who're they?"

Shego nodded to the young man next to me. "This is Señor Senior Jr.—you can just call him Junior—and his father, Señor Senior Sr. They're the ones who owned the island we were just on."

"Island?" I quickly looked out of the window, just in time to see a brightly-lit speck fade away into the darkness behind us. I looked back at Shego. "So where are we going now? Since the island was… compromised."

Shego laughed again. This time, it wasn't a nice laugh. "Oh, don't worry. We have plenty of places to hide you away, Zorpox.  _She_  won't be getting you anytime soon."

* * *

Shego had finally informed me that we were headed for somewhere in Scotland—Duff Killigan had agreed to let us use his old family manor to hide out in. It was from his mother's side, in her maiden name, and was so rarely used that there was little chance of connecting Killigan to it.

Needless to say, we would be using all possible precautions and taking no chances. No one wanted  _her_  (I  _was_  going to find out who this  _her_ was!) to find us.

When we finally made it to Killigan's family manor (which was on top of a cliff and looked quite ominous) we were surprised to find that we were the last ones there. There were a number of odd-looking vehicles parked outside. Our giant black helicopter was actually the most normal one there.

The others immediately jumped out of the helicopter and made their way inside. I quickly followed. Apparently, they had been there before. We walked into the manor and everyone inside turned to look at us, weapons held at the ready.

After a few tense moments, everyone put away their weapons and sat back down. I took a minute to look around. After confirming that the whole group was there, including our two other members (which brought our total number up to eleven), I moved to the middle of the room.

"Alright, people. I've been patient this long. I've accepted that I'm a villain. I've done all of your re-training. I've been nice (except when I wasn't supposed to be, in which cases I was mean). But now I'm just  _annoyed_. We just had to evacuate our base, none of you will tell me what's going on,  _or_  how I got my amnesia, and  _who the heck is she_!"

The villains all glanced at each other, looking shifty. That just made me angrier. I could feel my energy swirling closer to the surface, and I had to close my eyes and take several deep breaths to calm down. (Ever since Monkey Fist had started teaching me to master my Monkey Powers, they'd been closer to the surface and easier to access. On the downside, they'd been closer to the surface and easier to access.) When I was calm enough, I opened my eyes to find the whole room staring at me. Shego spoke first, like always.

"Kid, you sure that you really want to know?" I sighed in aggravation.

" _Yes_ , I really want to know. I've wanted to know since I woke up, but none of you would tell me! I want the truth!"

"Are you sure, Zorpox? Once you know, you might regret it." To my surprise, Gemini had spoken that time. (His chihuahua was conspicuously absent, and I absent-mindedly wondered where it was.) My last bit of patience snapped.

" _Yes! Tell! Me!_ "

The room was quiet for several moments; the only noise was my harsh breathing. Monkey Fist broke the silence.

"Her name is Kim Possible. She is currently 17 years old, and has been 'saving' the world since she was 11. Her main helper is a computer genius by the name of Wade; he is around 11 or 12 years old, we think. No one knows for sure." Monkey Fist was serenely calm as always, sitting with his legs folded and his palms up in a standard meditation pose. DNAmy was, also surprisingly, the next to speak.

"She's a nuisance! She  _destroys_  my  _babies_  whenever she fights me; I'm lucky if I can even get my labs set up before she's in there, wrecking them!"

Soon, all of the other villains were complaining, talking over each other in their attempts to tell me about  _her_  first. It seemed like they'd been dying to tell me, but something had been holding them back and, now that I had asked, they were eager to tell me their woes.

The only ones who weren't talking were Shego and Monkey Fist, who were, coincidentally, two of the only ones that I actually wanted to talk. After several minutes of their complaining, I'd had  _enough_. I whistled so loudly that I wouldn't have been surprised if this  _Kim Possible_ had been able to find us, just from the volume. The villains all shut up and looked at me. Monkey Fist even deigned to open his eyes. Shego, however, just kept filing her nails.

I stood in front of her and waited until she looked up. When she finally did, I spoke, my voice low.

"What did you mean when you said that  _she_  gave me my amnesia?"

I saw a barely-perceptible wince cross her face, and there was a split second of stunned silence before the villains in the room—even Monkey Fist this time—began yelling at her. She tolerated that for a few seconds (while I looked back and forth at them in bewilderment), before jumping to her feet. Her sudden movement startled the room into silence again.

"Yes, okay! I told him that  _she_  caused his amnesia! We should have told him before it came to this! He's been with us for over  _three months_ , and it should be  _obvious_  by now that his memories aren't coming back. He's one of our greatest assets against  _her_ , and we've been negligent and foolish in persisting like this!"

Silence ruled the room again. I wanted to say something, but I was afraid that if I did, they would remember that I was there and would send me out. Finally, Drakken sighed.

"You're… right." It looked like it physically pained him to say that out loud. "We… As much as I hate to say this, we need him. We should have told him before." Drakken slumped back in his seat, clearly unhappy with having to speak "well" of me and Shego. I didn't care, though. The more people in favor of telling me, the more likely it was that they actually would.

Killigan sighed and went next. "Aye. The laddie needs to know. I say we tell him." And so it went, around the room, with every single member of the little group voting to tell me (well, every member except for Junior. He didn't seem to get a vote. He didn't appear to want one, though, so that was okay).

I followed them around the room, my hopes building, until we came back to Shego. (They'd all voted to tell me the truth, and I was super happy. I'd finally learn what had happened to make me like this!) She wasted no time in telling me to sit down, and I could feel all of their eyes staring at me intently. It made me wonder if they were actually  _nervous_  or something, and that, in turn, made me nervous. Just how bad was this information, anyway?

Pretty bad, as it turned out.

* * *

Later, I stared at the ceiling of my room in the manor, trying to find the barely-visible cracks in the plaster and unable to sleep. I'd gone to bed almost an hour earlier, and my mind wouldn't stop replaying the information I'd learned.

The short version: all of the people in our group wanted me to lead them in conquering the world, for their own varied reasons. They'd attempted it on their own, as had I, and had gotten close, but we'd all failed, every single time. The reason for our failure: Kim Possible. They hoped, since I had gotten closer than all of them, that if we all teamed up, with me leading, we'd succeed; both in conquering the world and in crushing  _her_.

She was, apparently, one of the most irritating people on the planet, and also one of the most successful in pretty much anything she chose to do. The thing that she was most successful at, however, was stopping our schemes. All of our plans, but (apparently) especially mine. For some reason, they told me, she had a personal vendetta against me.

All of that combined had somehow led to my having amnesia.

They'd told me that I'd been fighting her the longest out of all of them. We'd grown up in the same town, we were the same age, and we were mortal enemies.

She seemed to take vindictive pleasure in squashing my plans, and I'd  _never_  won against her. Not once. Then again, no one else had either, so I couldn't feel  _too_  bad about that.

The defeat that had led to my amnesia had the worst one yet. I'd invented…  _something_  (no one knew exactly what I'd built, as I hadn't told anyone. I had called Shego and Drakken to brag about how it was my best one yet, though, so that was something, at least) and she'd destroyed it, like she always did. But I hadn't taken my defeat lying down.

From what the others villains had heard, I'd just  _snapped_. Loss after loss after loss had piled up, until I hadn't been able to take it anymore. I'd attacked her with violent, animalistic abandon (or so she'd said. No one knew for sure, since my camera footage had mysteriously gone missing, and no one could find it. It was like it'd been wiped from existence).

She'd been defending herself. That was what the police had ruled, when they'd loaded my unconscious body with an obviously bleeding head-wound into an ambulance. I'd been in a coma for a few weeks, and the doctors, at one point, hadn't been sure if I would ever wake up.

The others in the group had heard of my condition, and, one-by-one, decided not to rescue me. But then Shego found out about the bad part. I'd turned eighteen while I was in the coma (which explained why I looked so young. It's 'cause I was), and the police were finally going to be able to try me as an adult. I'd only been in juvie so far, and the other villains, knowing how bad real prison was, and finding out that the doctors believed that there was a very real possibility that I'd have no memories when I woke up, decided to do me a favor and help me out.

So they'd (mostly Shego at that point, although DNAmy had felt sorry for me too) convinced Señor Senior Sr. to supply money and a doctor, and they'd rescued me from the hospital.

From what they'd told me, it was a very difficult rescue. The police'd had a standing guard on every single exit and entrance into the hospital, and there'd been three people at my door at all times. No one had been allowed in or out without being verified. The escape had involved a great deal of falsified information, microscopic robots, daring escapades, and various other criminal activities. They still wouldn't tell me exactly how they'd done it.

Either way, they'd still gotten me out, and rescued me from the horror of a trial and jail-time without memories. Even now, they were still helping me regain my abilities, my strengths. And even though my memories were likely completely gone, they hadn't given up on me.

I owed them everything, really, and it wouldn't be easy to repay them. The only way I could see to do that, really, was take to over the world. That would definitely cancel out my debt to them, and I would be a free man (and one of the rulers of the world) again… I drifted into sleep, smirking just a bit.

* * *

Even though we'd escaped, we still weren't safe from  _her_  (I'd adopted that way of referring to her, since that was what everyone else called her. We all knew who we were talking about, after all). We ended up leaving the manor in less than a week.

From then on, we were on the run. We'd jump from safehouse to safehouse, and from lair to lair. Members of our little group (OLG for short) would leave and then join us again, trying to distract  _her_ , so I quickly got used to almost never having more than two or three people from OLG with me at a time.

When we were all together, while it  _was_  a cause for celebration, mostly, it was also a cause for worry. It was easier to track us down when we were in one big group, instead of several small ones. Everyone was doing their best to stay under the radar, both Global Justice's and _hers_.

During that time, I experienced more of life than I'd thought possible. We went to almost every single country in the world, like we were on some sort of global tour. It wasn't uncommon for us to sleep in some run-down hotel one night, and a five-star hotel in another country the next.

I probably learned more on that whirlwind trip than I had on the island. In every single place we went, we sought out the best local martial artists. Sometimes I won, and sometimes (most times at first, though it became less frequent the more places we went) I lost.

I always, always learned something, though. Soon my style, which had always been fairly erratic and jumpy compared to Monkey Fist's, grew even more jumbled. I learned that I did better in spontaneous, straight up fights than in staged, one-on-one, one-style-only-type fights. That didn't really surprise any of OLG.

During that time, they started taking me on heists. We started out with small things. Monkey Fist had me steal a semi-rare monkey statue from a museum. DNAmy head me steal an entire shipment of Cuddle Buddies. Motor Ed had me hotwire and steal an expensive sports car. Lucre had me hack into GJ's database.

Señor Senior Sr. had me steal one of his rival's most prized possessions (one of the world's largest diamonds). Gemini had me break into his sister's home and steal an eyepatch. Duff Killigan had me sabotage a golf tournament, subtly, so that the person he was betting on would win and no one would know. Drakken had me build a working doomsday machine.

And Shego… Shego had me do something both weird and uncomfortable. She had me kiss her. She said something about a villain needing to be willing to do anything, and how that willingness would make me a better villain, but at that point, I wasn't really listening to her.

Instead, I was staring at her. Or, more specifically, her lips. I'd never kissed a girl—or, if I had, I didn't remember it. What  _was_  it like? Would I enjoy it? I found that I really did want to know. I said 'yes.'

Shego, obviously, was much more experienced that I was. Still, it was… nice. And interesting. And I didn't realize until afterwards what positions we were in, and how I'd been taken advantage of.

My arms had gone around her waist, and her arms had encircled my neck, with a hand in my hair. And one of Drakken's henchmen (we'd been staying in one of Drakken's smaller, lesser-known lairs that week) had taken a picture of us mid-kiss.

It turned out that kissing her wasn't the end of Shego's test for me. The difficult part was yet to come.

* * *

"You want me to do  _what_?" I was staring at Shego in complete and utter incredulity. It had been less than an hour since we'd… kissed, and both of us had ignored that awkward fact and moved on. Well, Shego had. I was still thinking about it, just a little bit.

"I want you to sneak into  _her_  house and leave the picture of us kissing on her bed," Shego repeated not so-patiently.

"Yes, I got that, but  _why_?"

"Because it will really get her goat. A couple of months ago, you were in a coma in the hospital and probably had amnesia. She probably thought that she'd finally gotten rid of you for good. But this picture will both prove her wrong and irritate her immensely. This is just you being petty and rubbing your recovery in her face."

"Oh. But…" I didn't dare say the rest of my thought; that I'd thought kisses were generally private affairs. I sighed. Anything less than complete and total acceptance would lead to Shego 'inviting' me to a private spar, and then to me getting my butt massively whupped. "Alright. How am I getting there?"

Shego smirked, well, evilly. "Wonderful. Here's how it's going to go…"

* * *

Getting into  _her_  house was a huge challenge, even more so than breaking into Gemini's sister's house had been. That was because Shego gave me a time limit: I had to be in and out of  _her_  house in less than a minute. Luckily, that didn't involve breaking through  _her_  security system. She'd given me two minutes for that.

And I'd done it, too. I'd broken in, found her room (which hadn't been that hard. Shego had let me study the blueprints), put the picture on her pillow, reengaged the security system, and gotten out of there in less than three minutes.

Everyone had, understandably, been very proud of me. We'd celebrated my success in my final 'test' by getting everyone together to eat. We couldn't decide on where to go (like always), so I'd ended up cooking.

I hadn't minded. Actually, I'd prepared for that eventuality (we could hardly ever just chose a place to eat. Once they'd taught me to cook, I usually just cooked anyway). It was while we were eating that they sprung the surprise on me.

* * *

We'd been eating pasta—it was the only thing they could all agree on—and we were having a good time.

Drakken and Monkey Fist were arguing good-naturedly. Lucre was talking and everyone else was firmly ignoring him. Motor Ed was nattering on to Gemini, who was resolutely ignoring him. DNAmy was hitting on Monkey Fist, who was paying more attention to Drakken and his food than her. Señor Senior Sr. and Duff Killigan were making polite small talk about money and golf, respectively. Junior and I were sitting in slightly awkward silence, and Shego was just eating and ignoring everyone.

That ended when Shego cleared her throat and tapped on her glass with one sharp nail. We all turned to look at her. She smirked slightly and raised the glass in my direction. "Let's give it up for wonder boy, here, who managed to relearn all of his skills in only a few months, and who's managed to pass all of our 'tests.'"

Everyone at the table smiled… or smirked. Or at least didn't frown  _too_  harshly, and raised their glasses to me. I managed to avoid blushing (much) and I raised my glass back to them.

"You guys give me way too much credit! I couldn't have done any of it without you. Thank you so much for rescuing me, and then retraining me. Who knows what I might've been like without your help."

Drakken smiled at me. With his blue skin and painful looking scar, it didn't really look nice or reassuring. "You're welcome, kid. And to help you on your way to full-fledged villainy, we've got a gift for you." Everyone turned to Señor Senior Sr., who rummaged around in his sweater for a moment, before pulling out a piece of paper, passing it down the table to me.

I opened it, read it, and then looked back up to them, my brow furrowed. "Um, thank you? But… why did you give me the deed to a cave?"

DNAmy couldn't contain herself any longer. "Because it's going to be your first lair!"

My mouth dropped open. "You guys got me a lair?"

"We all helped pick it out, Zorpox. I, of course, helped the most, and Pepe was the one who chose the cave." Gemini leaned back, looking very proud of himself. Pepe just looked jittery.

"Oh, do be quiet, Gemini. We all helped choose it, boy. It's empty right now, so you'll have to furnish it yourself." Monkey Fist's voice was quiet and firm.

"And you'll have to find your own minions! Good help is hard to find, you know." Drakken was as exuberant and loud as always.

"What was that?" Shego was deadly quiet, like a snake (that wasn't a rattler) about to strike.

"I was talking about the minions, Shego!"

"I'm sure you were. Anyway, kid, we'll take you up there tomorrow. Get a good night's sleep."

When I finally fell asleep that night, it was with a content smile stretching across my entire face.

* * *

My lair was shaping up to be  _awesome_. In everyone else's lairs, all of the tech and evil inventions were out in the open and very 'in your face.' I, however, had decided to go for the subtle approach.

The first room in my system of caverns was the second biggest, and it was the entrance cave. The only things in that room were the throne and the traps. The throne was at the end of the cave, with a torch on either side. The traps were… everywhere else. There were a lot of traps.

I had several rooms beyond that, each with a different purpose. The first few caves were the 'trap' caves. All were filled with traps and malfunctioning doomsday machines, only placed there to provide distraction. And… that was the end of my system. Or so it seemed.

The entrances to my most important caves were very well hidden. One of the caves was my living space, and it was pretty bare. Another was my biggest and most important cave: my lab.

I was very proud of my lab. It'd taken me about a week to set up the rest of my system, but the lab had taken two on its own. All of my stuff was state-of-the-art (and stolen, but we don't admit that out loud), and I was already working on a plan that I knew, really truly  _knew_ would work. That is, if I wasn't stopped first.

So far, I hadn't been interrupted much. The other members of OLG stopped by every once in a while, but, for the most part, they'd gone back to their other, ordinary activities. Drakken and Shego were the two people who visited the most.

Drakken was actually a great help (Lucre too) and Shego would just come in and read a magazine or file her nails. I'd even set up some lamps and a lounge chair so that she could sun herself.

They never actually bothered me, and no one else did either, at least not until one fateful day…

* * *

Drakken and Shego had been my guests that day.  _She_  had wrecked their current lair, and they'd been staying with me until they could find a new one. I didn't mind. It was nice to have company. Unfortunately, that day was the day  _she_  had decided to try out a new tracking device.

I'd been in my lab, just putting the finishing touches on my master plan—Drakken and Shego both knew that  _something_  was happening today, but they didn't know what—when the proximity alarms went off. We'd all raced to the monitors, only to see someone approaching over the snow (snow? When had that happened? Wasn't it still fall? Had I really gotten that caught up in my work?) very rapidly.

Both Drakken and Shego cursed very loudly and violently. They'd recognized  _her_  right off. They both wanted to attack right away, but I persuaded them to wait. I wanted to see how I would fare against  _her_. Besides, I needed a test subject for my master plan.

* * *

The very first look I'd gotten at Kim Possible in person had been when she'd cautiously (more cautiously than I'd expected, honestly, after hearing all of the stories they'd told me about  _her_ ) entered the cave. She was wearing a white jumpsuit with a few glowing blue lines, and her fire-red hair was up in a ponytail. Her green eyes were narrowed, but that was probably just because she was attempting to see through the darkness.

She took one step into the dark cave, and flinched as the torches lit with a whoosh. (I was rather proud of the effect. It'd taken me almost an hour to wire the pressure plate and the torches perfectly, and I'd even remembered to remove the night vision goggles this time. The first time I'd tested it, I'd forgotten to remove them, and had almost blinded myself.)

Possible visibly started in surprise when she saw me on the throne. I cut an impressive figure, if I did say so myself. (They'd shown me pictures of my two outfits, my casual wear and my impressive wear, and my current outfit was a mixture of both, with a few added touches.

I'd kept the cargo pants, but made them black, and added several hidden pockets. I'd also added black, steel-tipped combat boots, and a black shirt. I'd kept the red "Z," although I'd gotten rid of the purple background, and I'd kept the gloves, though I had made them all black. The resulting outfit was both practical and scary, which had been what I'd wanted. A win all around, in other words.)

I was slouched on the throne, watching her closely, and I was surprised when she didn't immediately start glaring at me. Instead, she stared at me as if she was seeing a ghost, and looked almost as if she was going to start crying. I didn't let that unexpected reaction faze me, however. I'd prepared for this meeting and I wasn't going to let her ruin a perfectly good presentation.

"Well, well, well… We meet again, Kim Possible."

She just looked even more like she was going to cry.  _Great_. This wasn't how I'd planned our reintroduction to go at  _all_. Why on Earth was she crying? Was it because she was so horror-stricken that I'd (presumably) recovered?

" _R-Ron_?" To my further horror, her voice wavered as she said my old name.

"My name's not  _Ron_. It's Zorpox!" She didn't even seem to hear me. Her hands had gone over her mouth, and her eyes were almost sparkling (I blamed the tears). I straightened up in annoyance.

"You're okay! Thank goodness!"

"What is  _wrong_  with you, woman? Of course, I'm okay! No thanks to  _you_."

She still wasn't listening to me. "When I got that photo, I'd hoped… but still… And you're okay, Ron! You're okay, you're safe, and—what are you wearing?"

She'd finally taken in my appearance, it seemed. I smirked, rightfully proud. I'd put a lot of thought and work into it, after all.

"My outfit, of course. I remodeled it, just a little bit. What do you think?"

"It's… It's… interesting. Ron—"

"Good grief, Possible! My name is Zorpox! What do you not understand about that?"

"Wha— But, Ron!" She took another step into the cave—and her foot caught the trip wire. The first trap sprung, and I quickly made my way through the hidden door behind the throne and into the cave system.

Behind me, I could hear the sounds of traps activating as she escaped one trap only to fall straight into another one. As I ran through the caves to get to my lab, I turned on all of the traps behind me, so that she would activate them as she chased after me. I knew that none of them would capture her, but that was okay. The real trap was up ahead.

I was waiting for her when she finally made her way into my lab. She'd made it barely three steps in when the robotic arm swooped in behind her. Then she froze.

"Haha! It works! I knew it!" I pumped my fist in the air, completely elated. I hadn't actually been  _sure_  that it would work, so the proof that it _did_ … it was  _wonderful_!

"What'd you do to me?" The only thing she could move now was her face, and she was using it to great effect. Her eyes were darting all over, taking in all of the aspects of my lab, and they soon swung back to me, watching all of my movements warily.

"Simple! You are the first test subject in what will soon be part of the new world order! Aren't you  _excited_?" I'd asked several members of OLG what annoyed her the most, and being helpless while being asked stupid questions was one of the biggies. As such, I didn't wait for her to answer me. I dug into one of my pockets and pulled out a remote.

At my urging, a screen descended from the ceiling to hover at eye level. A display of an especially evil-looking robot appeared on the screen, and I gestured to it as I began speaking.

"What is the one thing that causes the most strife in the world today, Miss Possible? The answer is simple! The lack of a unified government! If all of the people in the world are united under one leadership, they won't have any reason to fight anymore! The government would take care of them, solving any problem for them before it even existed!

"And I, Miss Possible, plan to provide the solution to that problem. I will be the leadership the people of the world lack and I will unite them under one government— _my_  government.

"What you see on the screen before you is my way of helping provide the solution. This is the OLP2.0, or the Optimal Level Performance-bot 2.0. This lovely machine connects to your spinal cord at the base of your neck, where it fades into your shoulders. From there, it can control your entire body! It can cause pain, paralysis, organ failure, brain damage, even death! But it can do good things, too!

"It can heal paralysis and brain damage by releasing nanobots into your bloodstream and having them locate and fix the problems in your body. It'll help so many people!"

While I'd been giving my evil villain monologue (they'd told me that it was essential for a good villain to have a good monologue at the moment of victory), I'd been going through the pictures on my screen, showing her the robot in various stages of development, and simulations of what it could do. She'd alternated between staring first at me, and then the screen, in abject horror. Her reaction was  _exactly_  what I'd hoped for and I smirked as I continued.

"I'll give every single person on earth one of these and they'll all be forced to listen to me! No one will be able to go against me! I'll stop all of the fighting! I'll  _rule the world_!"

A tear (an actual, genuine  _tear_ ) slipped out of her right eye. One from her left followed.

"What have they  _done_  to you, Ron? What  _happened_  to you?"

I scowled at her, my good mood completely erased. Why did she keep bringing up that name? How dared she go off script!

"For the last time, my name is not Ron! It's Zorpox! And  _you_  happened to me! They helped me! I'd be in prison if it weren't for them!"

Possible's look of grief faded, to be replaced with a look of confusion. "Wha… Ron, I don't know what they've told you, but—"

"They've told me enough! Now  _shut up_!" I pressed a button on my remote, and her mouth snapped shut. "Now, I haven't tested the OLP2.0 yet, so you're going to be my first trial. If this works right, you'll be knocked out. If not, well… Oh well! This is supposed to be painless, though who knows how well it work, so brace yourself!"

I undid her paralysis, and, as she leaped for me (or, rather, the remote in my hand), I pressed the button that would send her straight into the arms of Morpheus. Or should have, anyway.

Because instead of falling to the floor in a dead sleep, she fell to the floor writhing and screaming in pain. I hurriedly pressed another button, one that was supposed to stop all previous other functions the OLP2.0 had done, and she stopped moving. I hurried over to her side, although I could already tell that it was too late. No one bleeding out of the ears, nose, and mouth was going to survive for much longer.

I knelt down next to her, unsure of what to do. What could I do? I had no idea how to fix someone whose brain was liquefying.

Just then, a surprisingly strong hand gripped mine, and I looked down into the bright green eyes of the girl I'd just killed. She pulled on my hand, and I bent over her until my ear was next to her mouth. With her dying breath, Kim Possible, world-renowned heroine, managed to breath out a last query to me, Zorpox the Unstoppable.

I carefully untangled her hand from mine as her eyes glazed over in death, and I took a moment to close them before standing up. I was shaking. I'd just  _killed someone_. I wasn't just a villain anymore. Now I was a  _murderer_. What was I going to do?

In the back of my mind (the part that wasn't busy panicking and was instead thinking over  _her_  last question), I noticed Drakken and Shego approaching from behind. They stood next to me, one on each side, and together we stared down at the still body of our fallen foe.

It was Drakken who spoke first. "So. She… She's really dead, then."

I didn't answer him. I couldn't, really. Shego did, instead.

"Yeah, Dr. D. She's really dead." We stood there in silence for another moment, before Shego looked over at me. "So, Zorpox. What'd she say to you? Before she died."

That startled me. Her last question… Did I really want to tell them? I looked to my left and saw Drakken's inquisitive stare, then looked to my right and saw Shego's slightly suspicious one, and answered my own question. No, I really  _didn't_  want to tell them. I looked back down to Kim Possible's still body, at the drying blood on her face, and answered Shego.

"Nothing, Shego. She died before she could get it out. She didn't say anything at all…"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own this, I never have and I never will. I just like torturing my favorite characters.  
> 


	4. You Know, Evil Queen is a Good Look for You

**When Dreams Become Reality**

_You Know, Evil Queen is a Good Look for You_

How had it come to this?

There were at least ten soldiers surrounding him. He would have scoffed a little bit, had he not known exactly why they were there. He'd made too many attempts to stop Her for them to let their guards down now. He felt like telling them that they could relax, 'cause he wasn't going to try anything, but he didn't even bother. They wouldn't believe him, and they'd probably just add more guards to make doubly sure he couldn't try anything.

They marched down the halls of the palace, moving steadily towards the throne room. The corridors had been cleared of people, but he could still see heads poking out, trying to get a glimpse of the infamous 'Un-Stoppable.' On any other day, he probably would've laughed, but not today. Today, he wasn't being 'Un-Stoppable.' Today he was being Ron.

The doors to the throne room sprang open and they marched in. The troop around him stopped in the middle of the room and then melted away, as the figure lounging on the throne waved an imperious hand. He tensed unconsciously, but then forced himself to relax. He wasn't here to fight. Just the opposite, really.

After a moment of silence, the figure on the throne straightened up and leaned forward. Ron saw a flicker of fire-bright hair.

"So what brings you here, Un-Stoppable? I thought you were somewhere else; harassing my troops in the east, perhaps."

"No. I've… come for another reason." He hesitated for another moment that seemed to take an eternity. Then he knelt down before Her. "I've come to join you, My… Queen."

"Oh? Well, this  _is_  an interesting turn of events. What made you change your mind?"

He bowed his head. "I couldn't take being away from you any longer. I can no longer live without you."

A cool hand lifted up his chin, and he found himself staring into the bright green eyes of Kim Possible, current ruler of planet Earth.

"Excellent! I'm so glad that you've finally come to your senses!" She pulled him to his feet and into a kiss that deepened almost immediately.

How had it come to this?

* * *

 _He didn't think that he could_   _take this anymore_!

He jerked back into the shadows as another patrol passed by. When the road was finally clear, he darted out of the alleyway and into another one farther down the street.

He was coming back from raiding a supply line, making his way to the current hideout. He walked quickly into the 'abandoned' building, and painfully (thanks to his three recently re-broken and currently healing ribs) climbed the stairs. He opened the door to an amusing sight, but he couldn't bring himself to smile.

Monique and Wade were arguing heatedly, some of the newer recruits were making bets on who was going to win, and Shego, his second-in-command, was trying to break up the fight. They'd all frozen when they'd noticed him, but he still couldn't muster up a smile. He tossed most of the bags onto the floor.

"Food, people." The recruits fell onto the bags like wild animals, and his top three moved over to him.

"Are you okay, Ron? They didn't catch you again, did they?" Wade's voice was concerned, and they were all looking him over for any new injuries.

"Yeah, man. I wish you'd take one of us with you on the little raids—" Monique interrupted his glare with one of her own, "—or at least take a few of the recruits. You don't just need to use us for the big things, you know."

"I've  _told_  you—"

"Yeah, yeah, you don't want to risk anyone else getting caught, not over something so small. Still, Ron. We're worried about you." Shego was as nice and caring as always, but today Ron just found her concern grating.

"Listen, I don't have the patience or energy for this tonight, okay? I'm going to bed." Ron made as if to walk off, but Wake grabbed his arm before he could get more than a step away.

"Ron, wait. I think you need to see this." Wade led him over to the TV and turned on the sound.

"This is Tiffany Snow, here on the steps of the World Capitol. Our leader is going to make an announcement." The camera panned up to the balcony, where She was standing. Kim's hair was pinned up, and she was wearing a fancy black dress, but her eyes were still bright green and shining. He wondered if it was sick that, after all this time and all of the past events, he still found that comforting.

"Hello, citizens of the world. Today is the one year anniversary of the Planetary Unification—" It was? Where had all the time gone? "—and I am pleased to announce that there will be a week-long celebration! This is going to be a new tradition for us, and it will be called the Unification Celebration. I hope that you all enjoy the feasts!"

Tiffany Snow started talking again, but Ron was no longer listening. Instead, he was watching Kim as she walked back inside. Her hips swayed as she walked, and the little bit of hair she'd left free floated in the wind. He suddenly found it very hard to breathe.

"Ron? Ron, are you okay?" Wade's voice was concerned, and he'd moved to stand before him. Ron buried his head in his hands, doing his best to ignore the whispering of the recruits, the concerned glances his top three were exchanging over his head, and the ferocious pounding of his horribly protesting body.

"No, Wade. I don't know how much longer I can take this."

* * *

"Wade, we have a problem." Ron kept his voice quiet as he watched the patrol move toward the entrance to their hideout. It was in an abandoned subway tunnel, this time. "I think that they've found us."

"What? How's that possible? I've erased anything that could've even  _possibly_  led to our discovery!"

"Yeah, well, they did it somehow. What do we do?"

"I... don't think you're going to like it, Ron."

Ron moved farther back into the shadows, as the soldiers sent a couple of men out to scout the perimeter.

"I already don't like it, Wade, so just tell me already."

"We need you to cause a distraction, Ron."

"Shego? Where's Wade?"

"He's hacking their orders, trying to figure out how they found out."

"Has he gotten anywhere? How'd they find us?"

"Simple, Ron," a new voice spoke. "I told them, of course."

Ron's hand fell away from his comm-link as he turned around slowly, ignoring Shego's response.

She was standing right behind him.

Her red hair was up in a ponytail, and she was wearing her now-familiar black catsuit, but her emerald eyes were the same. She smiled at him.

"Hello, Ron. How are you on this fine night?"

"I'm good, Kim. So, are you here to capture me?" The voices behind his comm-link, which had been growing increasingly frantic, fell silent at the sound of her name.

"Capture you? Why would you think that I'm here to capture you?"

"Maybe because I'm a terrorist? A traitor to the World Government? Enemy Number One?"

She laughed. The sound was probably more sinister than she'd intended.

"I'm not here to capture you, my love—"

Ron interrupted her furiously. "I am  _not_  your  _anything_ , let alone your  _love_!"

She continued undaunted. "—I'm here to give you an example."

Ron's gut clenched as he took in her pleased smile, and he got a very bad feeling. "What kind of example?"

"I just wanted you to know that I can find you, whenever I want."

He gaped at her. "No. No, that's not possible."

"Isn't it? Then how did I find you today?"

He stared at her, at her pleased and satisfied smirk, and his bad feeling grew. "You're lying. You have to be. Today was just some kind of fluke!"

"No, Ron, it wasn't. I'm just doing this to show you that I won't give up."

She touched her watch and then gestured behind him. He spun halfway around, making sure to keep one eye on her, and watched in horror and bewilderment as the soldiers surrounding their hideout turned and left as one. He looked back at Kim.

"Why are you doing this, Kim? You've already taken over the world. What else do you have to prove?"

She laughed. "I told you, Ron! I'm not giving up!"

"Why, Kim? Why can't you just capture us already and be done with it?"

"Because, Ron." She moved in closer, and her smile was sharp and deadly. "I'm not giving up until you join me  _of your own free will_."

She smiled at him and he found himself frozen. "Have a good night, Un-Stoppable." She moved in and quickly kissed his cheek, then darted away before he could react. And then she was gone.

He stared in shock at the spot where she had been standing, one hand covering his cheek. He reached up and tapped his comm-link.

"Wade? We have a problem…"

* * *

Ron was alone on the roof of the building. He was watching the traffic go by far, far below him, and wondering about life. How was it that the whole world could fall to an empress, and that this could be the only country left, and that everyone could still be going on, like everything was normal? Were they that confident in their own superiority?

And why did these sorts of things always happen at night?

"Hello, Ron."

He sighed, but didn't bother to turn around. "Kim."

They stood in silence for a moment.

"So?"

Ron finally turned around and took in her appearance. Her hair up, her black catsuit, and her bright, green eyes. He sighed again. "So what?"

Her smile was quick and sharp. "Aren't you going to fight me? You hate me, after all."

"You, of all people, know that's not true."

"True."

There was silence for a very long moment. Then Kim spoke.

"Well, as much fun as this has been, Ron, I've got places to go, people to see…"

"Countries to conquer," Ron muttered.

"Well, it's not really  _countries_  anymore, is it? It's more like  _country_." She made as though to walk away and Ron darted to stand in front of her.

"You know that I can't let you do that, Kim."

"Come on, Ron. Just this once?" She pouted. Unlike in the past, she didn't look cute. Just scary.

"No, Kim," Ron said firmly, "I won't let you." He settled into his stance, and watched as all emotion left her face, leaving only a blank mask. She rushed at him.

They traded blows quickly, ruthlessly. Each aimed for the other's weak points, and both played dirty. Ron's skill had grown immensely since this whole thing had started, but it still wasn't enough. Kim was infinitely more talented than he was.

He landed on the roof hard, breathing harshly and trying not to aggravate his broken ribs at the same time. It didn't work.

He heard Kim moving to stand over him, but he refused to look up. This was just another defeat in a long, long line of them, and he was used to the taunting that was coming.

"Ron, Ron, Ron… You just don't give up, do you? Not even when it would be better for you. I almost admire that trait. Almost. Next time, maybe you'll know better, though somehow, I doubt it."

She crouched down, and Ron pursed his lips and refused to look. A second later, he felt her hand stroking his hair.

"You know, Ron, it would be much easier on you if you just gave in and joined me."

"Never," he muttered. "I'll never join you."

"Oh? You're going to keep up this futile fight? I've conquered the entire world—except for this one, solitary country and, even as we speak, my minions are taking care of it."

_That_  got Ron to look up at her. She was staring at him and smirking, and he found himself unable to speak. She laughed at his expression.

"What? You thought that I'd give you a chance to stop me? Oh, no, Ron. I wasn't going to take that chance, however unlikely it was. I've had my agents in place for  _days_. Days, Ron. There was absolutely no way you could've stopped me."

Ron put his head back down. He'd failed. Kim had won yet again. He'd had no chance and he'd been fooling himself into thinking that he'd ever had one. She'd always been better than him, after all. Why should the fact that she was evil make any difference?

"You've never had a chance, Ron. I was always going to win this fight. I'm going to win  _every_  fight. You should just give in and join me now."

She moved her hand to his forehead as he whispered, "Never," under his breath.

"Ron, you're obviously sick. You have three, maybe four, broken ribs. You haven't been eating enough or sleeping enough.  _Come with me_. I can get you the best doctors and the best food in the world."

He painfully batted her hand away and, just as painfully, tried to curl into a ball. He was shivering and heading into shock.

"Never," he said again, and refused to move. She sighed.

"Alright, Ron. I can wait." She kissed his head and he listened as she stood up and moved off.

Soon, he was once again alone on the roof.

* * *

"I don't think that this is going to work, Ron."

Ron didn't bother looking up, just kept staring at the map.

Monique continued irritably. "Did you hear me, Ron? This isn't going to work."

Ron sighed and absently scratched at his stubble, as he finally looked up at the three of them. "It  _will_  work, Monique. It  _has_  to. It's our only option."

All three of them glared at him. "Ron, there are  _always_  other options." Wade was distractedly moving things around on his Star*Board, the latest (stolen) technology from PossibleTech. He wouldn't admit it, but Ron was pretty sure that he was in love with the darn thing.

"There aren't this time, guys. You know that."

"No we  _don't_ , Ron! You don't have to meet her alone. Take us with you!"

"For the last time, Shego, I'm not taking any of you with me!"

"You've never been able to beat her, man. What makes you think that you'll be able to do it this time?"

"I don't know, not for sure."

"Then why—?"

"Because the last time I tried to ambush her with a group, she captured all of them but me! We still don't know what happened to them!"

All three of them fell silent. They all remembered that day, and none of them wanted to talk about it. Finally, Wade broke the silence. "Be that as it may, I still think that you should take us with you—" he raised his hand, interrupting Ron just as he opened his mouth to speak "—but since you won't, at least, let us help you get ready."

Ron sighed. "Thank you." He turned back to the map. "Shego, have you scouted out where she's coming in?"

"Yeah, her helicopter should be landing on this roof. If you stand on this building," she pointed to something on the map and Ron nodded in confirmation, "she'll see you right away. Then, you can…"

Monique sighed as she watched them bending over the map, plotting. She went to help, muttering under her breath as she did, "I still don't think that this is going to work…"

* * *

The world was falling. As much as Ron and everyone else had tried to stop it, it was moving steadily downwards. After the first county had made Kim its leader, neighboring countries had quickly followed.

Around that time, the rest of the world became aware of the fact that its greatest hero had quickly become its worst enemy. New contingencies were put into place. More war-hungry nations sent out assassins. More peaceful nations sent out teams to capture her. All of them failed.

Kim was just too good. She moved constantly, commanding her quickly-forming empire from a distance. She had constant jamming signals on her, multiple ones, which made it impossible to bug or track her.

The only way to track her movements was to follow the trail of destruction and conquered nations she left behind her. The International Criminal Court had tried to find a way to arrest or kill her, but could find no legal reason to do so.

She committed no observable crimes. She didn't kill the leaders who turned over their countries to her, they died of "natural causes." The people who decided to make her their leader overthrew their own governments in coups that had no trace of her hand in them. The people who tried to testify against her could provide no proof of any crime, and the people who objected to her rule quickly changed their minds, becoming convinced that she was the best person for the job. There was nothing odd about it at all, nothing except for the fact that she wasn't from any of those countries, and they were still letting her rule.

Even so, she was responsible somehow. They were all sure of it.

Ron ended up leading a lot of the search teams, with Wade as his tech backup. He was the only one who knew how Kim's mind worked—or rather, he had been—and since there was no one else, he had to be good enough.

The real problem was that he wasn't good enough. Not nearly. Kim had always,  _always_  been better, smarter, and more able to see the bad guys coming from a mile away. Ron… hadn't. And now—even with so much riding on it, even with Wade, Monique, and Shego behind him—he still couldn't keep up.

And it was  _killing him._

The girl he loved, the girl he'd spent his whole life with, and had planning to spend the rest of it with as well, was evil. She was tormenting him and  _enjoying it_.

She was… taking over the world, succeeding where none of the other villains had, because there was no one to stand against her—no one but Ron, and he just  _wasn't good enough_.

The world was falling… and Ron couldn't stop it.

* * *

"I'm fine, Wade. You can stop freaking now."

"Ron, you were in the hospital!"

"But I'm not anymore. Guys, I'm  _fine_." Ron sighed in frustration as he wobbled on his crutches. Hands came and steadied him, and he sighed again. "Thanks, Shego."

"You're welcome, kiddo. Are you sure you should be out of the hospital?"

Ron looked at her, and saw concerned, worried eyes. " _Yes_. The doctors said that I was good to go. All that's left to do is heal, so that I can get this  _stupid_  cast off."

They hesitated another moment, then nodded slowly. Wade looked at Ron.

"C'mon. Monique has the car waiting."

They helped him hobble out to the car waiting in the parking lot. Ron only paused for a second when he noticed that it was Ki— _her_  car, then quickly kept going. Shego and Wade exchanged concerned looks behind his back, but he pretended not to notice. He was getting very tired of those looks.

He was fine. He  _was_.

They drove back to the Stoppable house in uncomfortable silence. His mom and dad greeted him at the door and helped him inside. He waved goodbye as the car left, finding it almost impossible to care where they were going next. He was too numb for that.

His parents helped him haul his exhausted body into bed, and he quickly fell asleep.

His eyes opened again just a few hours later, and he stared, unseeing, at the ceiling, as memories of red hair and red lasers and red blood and red pain ran through his mind.

He could hear no sound in his room ( _there was no sound—no sound, where there should be sound—and its absence cut his soul to the quick_ ), and he knew his parents and sister were sleeping peacefully elsewhere in the house.

He couldn't help himself; he quickly scanned the room ( _ignoring the empty spot where there should be someo—thing_ ), and when nothing revealed hers—itself, he went back to staring at the ceiling.

"I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm  _fine_ …"

* * *

"Kim!" Ron ducked, as Kim threw another blow at his head while dodging a blow from Shego. "Kim, please!"

She didn't stop, but only laughed, as she came after him again. Kim was going  _all out_ , and it was the first time he'd ever seen her do so. Kim always,  _always_  pulled her punches, so she wouldn't kill or seriously hurt anybody. She wasn't doing that now, and Ron knew that if one of her blows connected, it would almost certainly break something.

He hated to say it, but he was actually scared right now. Kim was gone, gone like he'd been, and he couldn't get her out.

He and Shego danced around Kim, avoiding her blows and doing their best to tire her out so they could take her down. It probably would've worked, too—Kim had been breathing harder, and she'd been slowing done a tiny bit—had it not been for the spanner in the works.

In other words, Drakken flew in.

"Shego!" he called. "Shego, I need you!"

Kim smirked. "I'll see you later, baby. Next time, let's have a  _fun_  workout."

He gaped at her, hesitating just a moment too long, which gave her an opportunity to strike.

Ron found himself on the ground, his ears ringing, and a line of fire racing up his leg. He thought he screamed, but couldn't be sure. All he could see was red.

He came back to himself just in time to see Kim climb into Drakken's hovercraft and throw Drakken out. She paused for just a second, grabbing something from her shoulder and  _throwing_  it at the ground. It made a horrible wailing cry as it hit, and Ron felt faint as he realized what it was.

" _Rufus?_ "

He heard a laugh from above, and looked up to see Kim flying away. His cry contained equal amounts of grief and pain, both for her and for his friend on the ground—who'd stopped moving altogether.

" _KIM!"_

* * *

Ron could do nothing but watch in horror, as the Attitudinator slipped out of his hands and fell to the ground, sending a bright red beam of pure evil light speeding toward Shego. The horror increased as Kim dove toward Shego, knocking her out of the way, but was unable to get out of the way herself.

Kim remained bent over for a long, eternal moment, before straightening up. There was a smirk upon her lips, a cruel, judgmental look that said she'd examined your soul and found it wanting.

"K-Kim?" Ron's voice was weak and stuttering, and he winced as she laughed at him. It was a very good laugh, full of evil cackling and undeniable confidence that the person laughing  _was_  going to win. Ron and Kim had always made fun of villains' laughs, knowing that it just meant that they were trying too hard.

But Kim's laugh… Kim's laugh was  _scary_. It wasn't falsely confident, it wasn't trying too hard—it just  _was_. And what it was... was  _evil_.

"Kim, please. You—You're kinda scaring me."

Kim's smile was sharp. "Am I? Good. You're much too  _weak_. Maybe if I scare you enough, you'll toughen up."

Shego moved slightly, and Kim spun to look at her.

"And you! Look at you! You're so pathetic at being evil that you can't even go back, can't push the brainwashing machine—"and here she gave the Attitudinator laying at her feet ( _and when had she moved? Had she been standing there a second ago?_ ) a sharp, contempt-filled kick "—off. You're just as weak and sad as he is!"

Shego didn't respond to her taunting, just stepped closer.

"Please, Kim, let us help you. This isn't you."

"Are you joking? I'm more me than I've ever been before!"

Ron, seeing what Shego was doing, moved closer too. "No, you're not, Kim. You—the real you—isn't evil. You're a good guy, Kim! Not some supervillain!"

Kim, of course, saw right through their plan. With another cruel, sharp smile, she lifted one foot—and brought it down on the Attitudinator's weak point as hard as she could.

Ron and Shego both screamed "No!" but couldn't stop Kim from destroying the only hope they had of turning her back.

Kim laughed her new, horribly evil laugh as she took in their despair.

"I'm going to take over the world, you know. I'll control  _everything_. You can join me… or you can have the whole world arrayed against you. What will you choose?"

Ron looked at her and saw many things. He saw his best friend, his girlfriend, the woman he loved, the hero who'd saved the world countless times… and now, an evil, twisted soul who wanted nothing more that to cause pain and suffering. "Never," he breathed. "I will  _never_  join you."

Kim sighed. "Well, if you won't join me willingly…" She turned to Shego. "I assume that you feel the same way?" Shego didn't bother to speak; she just nodded a tense, worried nod. "Alrighty then! I'll just have to convince you otherwise!"

Ron could only watch in horror as the girl he loved charged at him, preparing to do things to him that he'd never thought her capable of before.

And Ron despaired.

…The End…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own this and I never will.

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own this, I never have and I never will. I just like torturing my favorite characters.  
> 


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